A bit of information caught my eye today.

I was nibbling on my sandwich for lunch, perusing, as I like to do, the Business section of our state's largest daily newspaper. Lennar Corporation, one of the nation's largest home builders, released a statement saying it expected a fourth quarter loss.

The part that caught my attention was the company's stated reasoning for the forecasted loss. The story said the company was "reevaluating how much its inventory is worth amid a slowing industry."

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Seems the housing bubble has affected what some of the company's newly built homes are worth today. Obviously less than they were worth previously.

That's the thing with markets, whether we talk about the housing market, the stock market, the grain market, or the used farm equipment market. Things change. Values change. They go up; they come down. It's always been that way and always will be.

The market I keep my eye on most closely, the used farm equipment market, is a timely example. Used values are actually on the rise now, across a broad range of industry segments, such as used harvest equipment, tillage equipment, planting/seeding equipment and all horsepower ranges of the used tractor market.

Remember the old days when it was just assumed that as tractors aged, they slowly but surely lost value along the way? Not so anymore. Check out these facts I just compiled on a common pair of 130 horsepower tractors made in the late 1970s on into the early 1980s.

Year	John Deere 4440	IHC 1086
2006	$20,508	$11,075
2005	$19,277	$9,261
2001	$18,842	$10,406

• IHC 1086 tractors - made from 1976 to 1981.
• JD 4440 tractors - made from 1978 to 1982.

According to the data we compiled, the average auction sale price last year on IHC 1086 tractors was up 6.4% versus five years prior, while JD 4440 tractor values were up 8.8% last year versus 2001 values. As I said, markets aren't static, they're always changing. Used farm equipment values could well rise even more sharply in 2007.

Just like Lennar Corporation, the home builder mentioned earlier, is reevaluating what its inventory is worth, I think we all need to "reevaluate" used farm equipment values as we wade into 2007. This will be especially vital if you're looking to buy, sell or trade in the new year.

Click here to download a PDF of auction sale price data for John Deere 4440 tractors.

Click here to download a PDF of auction sale price data for IHC 1086 tractors.